Chapter 14 of Zechariah is a chapter of the End of Days. We jump ahead to it out of our usual sequence because it completes the prophecy found in Yechezkel chapters 38-39. Matters that were stated there briefly appear here in detail, so it is worthwhile to examine how they are expressed in the prophecy of Zechariah.
הִנֵּה יוֹם בָּא לַיהֹוָה וְחֻלַּק שְׁלָלֵךְ בְּקִרְבֵּךְ׃ - Behold, a day comes for Hashem, and your spoil shall be divided in your midst.
What is the meaning of "and your spoil shall be divided in your midst"? Whose spoil will be divided? The Radak explains that these words are addressed to Jerusalem: the nations will divide the spoil of the city within it, as it says later, "and the houses shall be plundered." That is, they will take spoil from the Jewish people and divide it among themselves. The Metzudat David interprets this in the exact opposite manner: all the spoil that the Babylonians plundered from you since antiquity will return to you and be divided in your midst - what they took they will return, and the division will take place among us.
Rashi explains simply that this does not refer to the ancient spoil at all, but rather to contemporary spoil: Gog will come, and we will take his spoil. He will come with silver, gold, and sophisticated weaponry, and all this spoil will be divided in our midst and we will merit to possess it.
The Malbim explains that this prophecy was said regarding the third time Gog will come. As mentioned from the words of Chazal, Gog will come three times, and on the third time his advance will reach Jerusalem itself, unlike the first two times when he will not reach Jerusalem. "Behold, a day comes for Hashem" - that unique day which marks the end of Gog's kingdom. And "your spoil shall be divided in your midst," according to the Malbim, means that Gog will come ready to divide the plunder of Jerusalem, for he will march upon Jerusalem itself.
וְאָסַפְתִּי אֶת־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לַמִּלְחָמָה וְנִלְכְּדָה הָעִיר וְנָשַׁסּוּ הַבָּתִּים וְהַנָּשִׁים תִּשָּׁכַבְנָה וְיָצָא חֲצִי הָעִיר בַּגּוֹלָה וְיֶתֶר הָעָם לֹא יִכָּרֵת מִן־הָעִיר׃ - For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be captured, and the houses plundered, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Here the prophet begins to describe what will take place in that era. In Yechezkel, the nations appear with their detailed names - Assyria, Put, Elam, Media, Persia, Egypt, and all their multitudes - while here it is phrased in general terms: "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle."
The Malbim says: in the End of Days, the descendants of Edom will gather to take Jerusalem from the hands of the Ishmaelites. This is truly astonishing. Anyone who observes where things are headed sees that it is only a matter of time before Jerusalem could fall into the hands of the Ishmaelites. At one time, the most dreadful curse was to say of someone that he would divide Jerusalem, an accusation even Shimon Peres recoiled from. Today, no one is willing to promise they will not negotiate over Jerusalem; on the contrary, people speak openly about Jerusalem. It has become clear to all that this matter is only a question of time.
Rabbi Yitzchak Peretz recounted that he once spoke with Rav Shach regarding the settlements, and Rav Shach was strongly opposed to them. When he asked why, Rav Shach answered him: "They will give everything back. Everything will be handed back to the Arabs; do not settle there." He said to him: "But Rebbe, there are large communities there, not just a few trailers, how could they give them back?" He replied: "They will give everything back. And not only that - it will not be a left-wing government that gives it back, but a right-wing government. The left has no mandate among the people to do it; only the right has the mandate, and they will give it all back. Remember what I am telling you." He asked him: "Will they give Jerusalem back too?" He answered: "Jerusalem too." Rabbi Peretz said: When I heard this, I thought that perhaps Rav Shach was exaggerating in his fears and seeing things in an extreme way. But years passed, and indeed the Gaza Strip was evacuated, regarding Judea and Samaria there is talk of 'evacuate and compensate' and similar ideas, with the Golan Heights they are waiting to return it to anyone willing to make peace, and Barak practically surrendered Jerusalem in effect - only fortunately for us, the madman in Gaza refused to accept it. The agreement was practically signed, they had conceded everything already, and we were left with the right to visit the Kotel, thank you very much. All that remained was to sign an end to the conflict, and Arafat feared that and backed out, and so it ended. The Gedolei Yisrael adamantly insisted that one must not even entertain talks about Jerusalem - both Rav Elyashiv and Rav Ovadia Yosef - because it poses a genuine mortal danger: everything suffered today from rockets over there, they will begin receiving in Ramot and Armon HaNetziv, may Hashem protect us.
If someone had read such a thing a hundred years ago, it would have seemed completely imaginary. Where were there even Jews in the Land of Israel a hundred or two hundred years ago? A small Jewish settlement in Meah Shearim. And now, a hundred years later, there are Jews throughout Jerusalem, and sixty years after the founding of the state, there is already talk of giving Jerusalem back. Jerusalem became ours in 5727 (1967), and already there is talk of relinquishing it. And after there is Ishmaelite rule in Jerusalem, the Edomites will come to seize it from their hand.
"And the city will be captured, and the houses plundered" - and "half of the city will go out into exile" refers to those of the Jewish people who will be in Jerusalem during that period of Ishmaelite rule; half of them will already be exiled from there, unable or unwilling to live in Jerusalem under Arab rule. But "the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city" - they will not have time to bring about the total destruction of the people, because at this stage, the Holy One, blessed be He, enters the fray.
וְיָצָא יְהֹוָה וְנִלְחַם בַּגּוֹיִם הָהֵם כְּיוֹם הִלָּחֲמוֹ בְּיוֹם קְרָב׃ - And Hashem will go forth and wage war against those nations, as on the day He fought on the day of battle.
How will this war be fought? The Malbim explains that it will unfold as we saw in Yechezkel 38: "And I will set Egypt against Egypt," every man's sword against his brother - the nations of Edom will fight against the nations of Ishmael and kill one another.
"As on the day He fought on the day of battle [kerav]" - the Malbim explains that there is a distinction between kerav (battle) and milchamah (war). Kerav is related to karov (close) - face-to-face combat where the fighters draw near to one another. Milchamah is fought from afar. And what does this signify regarding the Holy One, blessed be He? "From afar" means through natural causes, where the hand of Hashem is not visibly evident. "From up close" means through an open miracle, where people see eye-to-eye how Hashem fights against the nations. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: My war with them will not be fought from afar through nature, but from up close through a miracle. It will be a day of battle and not merely a day of war, just as we have seen: "And I will execute judgment against him with hailstones" and the like, which are all supernatural forms of warfare.
Rashi cites the midrashic teaching of Chazal, and Targum Yonatan translates similarly: "As the day He waged battle at Yam Suf" - like the day Hashem waged battle at the Red Sea. Just as Hashem fought against Egypt at the Red Sea, so too is He destined to wage war against the nations on the day Gog arrives.
וְעָמְדוּ רַגְלָיו בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עַל־הַר הַזֵּיתִים אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם מִקֶּדֶם וְנִבְקַע הַר הַזֵּיתִים מֵחֶצְיוֹ מִזְרָחָה וָיָמָּה גֵּיא גְּדוֹלָה מְאֹד וּמָשׁ חֲצִי הָהָר צָפוֹנָה וְחֶצְיוֹ־נֶגְבָּה׃ - And His feet will stand on that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will split in half, from east to west, into a very great valley, and half of the mountain will move to the north and half of it to the south.
On that day, a miracle is destined to take place: the Mount of Olives will split. There will be a great earthquake in the land, as mentioned in the Book of Yechezkel, and this will cause the entire Mount of Olives to split apart. The Mount of Olives stands east of Jerusalem, which is why the verse states, "which is opposite Jerusalem on the east." Metaphorically, the verse says that the "feet" of the Holy One, blessed be He, will stand upon the mountain, as it were, and as a result, the mountain will divide, with one part moving to one side and one to the other - a complete split. "And it will move" (umash) means that it will detach and shift: half of the mountain to the north and half of the mountain to the south, and in the middle, a gai - a vast valley - will form.
A story is told of one of the great leaders of Israel - perhaps the Rebbe of Belz, though the exact identity is not clearly recalled - who refused ever to ascend the Mount of Olives. Why? Because he believed with complete and total faith in the coming of Mashiach, and awaited him every single moment. He said: If Mashiach should come right now, while we are standing on the Mount of Olives, and "His feet will stand on that day" and the mountain splits open - this is a danger to life! Therefore, he was unwilling to go up there. Consider what profound faith this represents: that the event is about to happen right now, at any given moment. An ordinary person says, "When Mashiach comes, with Hashem's help," and meanwhile goes about his business. But he genuinely feared this possibility, because his faith was completely tangible.
The Malbim explains this matter literally and resolves an apparent contradiction through it. In Yechezkel 48, it is explained that the Jerusalem of the future will be located 45 mil away from the site of the Beit HaMikdash (a mil is close to a kilometer, approximately 960 meters). On the other hand, Scripture states that Jerusalem will dwell forever, implying that it will remain in its place. The resolution lies in our verses: the Mount of Olives, which is part of Jerusalem, will be displaced along with its entire surrounding area across a length and breadth of 5,000 reeds - which equals 15 mil, the dimensions of Jerusalem in the time to come. It will then stand 45 mil distant from the northern half of the mountain, and upon it the future Jerusalem seen by Yechezkel will be established and built. Thus, there is no contradiction: on the one hand, Jerusalem will remain inhabited, yet as a unified whole it will be relocated and set at a distance from the site of the Beit HaMikdash - both statements are completely true and accurate.
וְנַסְתֶּם גֵּיא־הָרַי כִּי־יַגִּיעַ גֵּי־הָרִים אֶל־אָצַל וְנַסְתֶּם כַּאֲשֶׁר נַסְתֶּם מִפְּנֵי הָרַעַשׁ בִּימֵי עֻזִּיָּה מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה וּבָא יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהַי כָּל־קְדֹשִׁים עִמָּךְ׃ - And you shall flee to the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal; and you shall flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and Hashem my God will come, and all the holy ones with You.
The prophet describes a panicked flight: everyone will flee to the valley formed by the parting of the two sections of the mountain. "For the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal" - the valley will extend to its southern side, toward Chevron, reaching a place named Azal, which Chazal explain was located 45 mil from present-day Jerusalem. The mountain will collapse and the valley will stretch as far as that place, and there it will come to a halt. And what will be there? The Jerusalem of the future will be built there. And this flight will be like the flight from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Yet there is a fundamental difference. The earthquake in the days of Uzziah was an outburst of wrath against them, and tzara'at broke out on Uzziah's forehead because he went in to offer incense, performing an act forbidden to anyone who is not a kohen. There, the earthquake came in anger. In contrast, the future earthquake will be a positive event: "And Hashem my God will come, and all the holy ones with You" - Hashem and all His holy ones will come with you to protect you and assist you, not to punish you.
And who are "all the holy ones with Him"? The Radak explains that all the prophets who foretold the future Redemption will come, and Hashem will come with them so they may witness with their own eyes, face to face, how their prophecies are fulfilled, as if He were saying to them: behold, what you spoke of in ancient times is now being realized. The Malbim explains that Hashem will arrive with the angels, and these angels will serve as protection and support for the people of Israel.
The Malbim also cites another reading of the word venastem - not from the root of flight (menusa), but from the root of sealing or stopping up (setima). The valley in the middle of the mountain will open down to the depths of the earth, and from there the earthquake will emerge to cause terror and panic; afterward it will be sealed up, and through this sealing a plain will be formed there: what had been open down to the depths will close and become level with the earth's surface, leaving only a valley. The Radak explains differently: the two mountain sections that separated and shifted will be closed back together, reuniting as one. The ordinary way of the world is that an earthquake opens a fissure in the ground that remains, but here the rift will close up, the mountains will rejoin and rise high like Azal, where the high mountains stand, and in this way the original state will be restored.
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לֹא־יִהְיֶה אוֹר יְקָרוֹת וְקִפָּאוֹן׃ - And it shall come to pass on that day that there shall be no bright light, but thick gloom.
The Radak interprets this allegorically: the light of that day will not be fully clear - that is "a light of brightness" (or yekarot) - nor will there be kipa'on, light filtering through thick clouds where the sun cannot be seen and the air feels congealed. It will be neither the one nor the other, but an intermediate light: neither entirely bright nor entirely dark. Rashi explains kipa'on as meaning congealed, dark, and thick like ice that has frozen and hardened. This is what the poet refers to in the liturgical piyyut: "Bring near the day that is neither day nor night" - he was speaking of this very day.
The Malbim explains this as referring to the Messianic era. For it is written: "The sun shall no longer be your light by day... but Hashem shall be an everlasting light for you" - Hashem will illuminate for us, not the sun. There will be no physical light whatsoever, but only spiritual light. This is the meaning of "there shall be neither or yekarot nor kipa'on": neither the light of the sun, which is a precious, radiant light (or yakar), nor the light of the moon and the stars, which is a secondary, congealed light (or kipa'on).
And what is kipa'on? In Aramaic, the root k'fa means to float, as the Targum renders "and the iron floated" (vayatzef habarzel) as uchfa parzla. A kipa'on light is a "floating" light: a light that has no source of its own, but strikes a body that merely reflects it elsewhere; the light remains external to it and floats above that physical form. Such is the light of the moon and the stars - a reflected, floating light. The sun, by contrast, is or yekarot, shining from within itself. The verse states that on that day there will be neither or yekarot nor kipa'on, but solely the light of the Holy One, Blessed be He; no physical light will exist at all, only spiritual light.
וְהָיָה יוֹם־אֶחָד הוּא יִוָּדַע לַיהֹוָה לֹא־יוֹם וְלֹא־לָיְלָה וְהָיָה לְעֵת־עֶרֶב יִהְיֶה־אוֹר׃ - And there shall be one day which shall be known to Hashem, neither day nor night; and it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light.
Radak explains "one day" as a day set aside for Hashem, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, will perform unique mighty acts and wonders. And what does "not day and not night" mean? It is a metaphor: day symbolizes relief and night symbolizes distress, and this day will not be entirely distress nor entirely relief. But "it shall come to pass that at evening time there shall be light" - toward the end of the day relief will arrive. After half the city goes out into exile, "Then Hashem will go forth and fight against those nations," and salvation will come toward the end of the day; but throughout that entire day, it will be neither day nor night - neither complete distress nor complete relief.
The Malbim continues his earlier explanation here. Since that light is not physical light but Divine light, that day will not be divided into day and night, or into morning, noon, and evening, for such division stems solely from the sun rising here and setting there. "It shall be known to Hashem" means that Hashem will make Himself known and revealed through that light. Therefore, it will be "one day" that is entirely day, and in the light of the Holy One, blessed be He, we will see light. Consequently, there will be no reality of sunset, and thus it will be "not day and not night," because night is caused by the setting of the sun, and day and night are determined by sunrise and sunset.
On a deeper level, says the Malbim, the verse expresses that the illumination and bounty emanating from the celestial luminaries will, as it were, cease, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will Himself bestow upon us an unchanging spiritual bounty. Such bounty means there will no longer be troubles, nor will there be any state of sunset, for sunset symbolizes decline. There are times when the Jewish people are at their sunrise and times when they are in their sunset, but on that day there will be no further sunset for the Jewish people. Rather, the Jewish people will always shine and remain at their highest spiritual level. Beyond the literal aspect that that day will be, as it were, one long day, on a spiritual level everything will be light: success, blessing, and prosperity for the Jewish people, without any cloud casting a shadow over their situation - which is the aspect of darkness, of night, and of exile.
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יֵצְאוּ מַיִם־חַיִּים מִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם חֶצְיָם אֶל־הַיָּם הַקַּדְמוֹנִי וְחֶצְיָם אֶל־הַיָּם הָאַחֲרוֹן בַּקַּיִץ וּבָחֹרֶף יִהְיֶה׃ - And it shall come to pass on that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter it shall be.
On that day, when the Mount of Olives splits, living waters will go out from Jerusalem. At first, the spring will open in Jerusalem alone, but after the final war, the waters will multiply until they reach the eastern sea and the western sea. Consider what a tremendous volume of water this describes. This is the literal meaning of the verse, and it will be fulfilled literally.
Ibn Ezra says: This is a sign for the future, and for this reason the mountain is split, so that from its middle living waters will flow through the valley, and the mountain will no longer obstruct them because it will be cleaved. Ibn Ezra adds, arguing against those who claimed even in his day that we had already passed the war of Gog and Magog: Let them show us the flowing river reaching all the way to the sea - to the Mediterranean and to the ocean. Where is the water source that burst forth? As long as you have not seen it as described by the prophet, it is a sign that that day has not yet arrived.
The Malbim says that these words are literal, actual water, and that is why it says "in summer and in winter it shall be" - they will never cease. He further adds that on a deeper level, the waters allude to knowledge of Hashem, blessed be He, as it is written, "as waters cover the sea": on that day knowledge will increase - knowledge of God, not secular sciences - spirituality will increase, and Divine comprehension will expand.
וְהָיָה יְהֹוָה לְמֶלֶךְ עַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְהֹוָה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד׃ - And Hashem shall be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem shall be one and His name one.
Through the abundance of knowledge, all nations will abandon their gods, and Hashem will be King over all the earth. People will no longer say there is this god and that god. And what is meant by "and His name one"? Rashi explains that His name will be mentioned by everyone. Radak explains that they will not mention the name of any other deity in the world, only His name alone; this is what is meant by "one name" - that everyone mentions the very same name.
The Malbim explains that this refers to the Four-Letter Name (Havayah), which in the future will be pronounced as it is written. Today we do not pronounce it as written, but rather as Adonai, but on that day, the name used will be Shem Havayah alone. And what is the difference between Shem Havayah and Shaddai, El, Elokim, Tzevaot, or Ehyeh? Shem Havayah is the essential name, His very Name, blessed be He; whereas all the other names, as explained in sacred works, are descriptive titles that do not express His essence, but rather describe His actions: Shaddai - He Who said to His world, "Enough!"; Ehyeh - the name of redemption, for He will redeem Israel; Tzevaot - that all His hosts are with Him; Elokim - that He controls all the forces of nature, being omnipotent and master of all powers; and so on. The Kuzari also elaborates on this concept. And since in the future there will no longer be different modes of Divine conduct - judgment, kindness, strict justice, mercy - but rather one single, unified conduct of continuous kindness and mercy, Hashem will be one and His name one, and there will no longer be additional descriptors about which people would say, "Now His conduct is like this, and now His conduct is like that."
יִסּוֹב כָּל־הָאָרֶץ כָּעֲרָבָה מִגֶּבַע לְרִמּוֹן נֶגֶב יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם וְרָאֲמָה וְיָשְׁבָה תַחְתֶּיהָ לְמִשַּׁעַר בִּנְיָמִן עַד־מְקוֹם שַׁעַר הָרִאשׁוֹן עַד־שַׁעַר הַפִּנִּים וּמִגְדַּל חֲנַנְאֵל עַד יִקְבֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ - All the land will be transformed like the plain, from Geva to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be elevated and dwell in her place, from the Gate of Binyamin to the place of the First Gate, until the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Chananel to the king's winepresses.
The Malbim explains: After the Mount of Olives splits in two, the valley in the middle will become like a plain - a flat expanse - stretching from Geva, which lies south of Jerusalem, all the way to Rimmon, and that is where the new Jerusalem will be located. "And she shall be elevated" [ve-ra'amah] refers to Jerusalem itself, from the root *ram* (high or exalted, with the *aleph* resting grammatically, though it is pronounced). The old Jerusalem, which is the Jerusalem of today, is where the Beis HaMikdash will stand, remaining in its place, while the new Jerusalem will serve as the residential city; and both will be high and exalted. "And dwell in her place" - the old Jerusalem will remain on its site, and from there the new Jerusalem will spread outward to a distance of 45 mil, a vast and immense territory. This is what the verse enumerates: "from the Gate of Binyamin to the place of the First Gate, until the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Chananel to the king's winepresses" - up to that point the new Jerusalem will extend. The mountains will recede, and this entire plain will stretch out to the mountain's edge and become Jerusalem.
The Radak explains that "all the land will be transformed like the plain" means that the entire site of Jerusalem is destined to rise upward. Jerusalem is indeed elevated even today - when traveling there, one must ascend past the Castel and climb, there is no way around it - but in the future, the entire region will be still higher, and the whole plain will rise up. Through this, the prophecy will be fulfilled: "The mountain of the House of Hashem shall be established at the head of the mountains, and exalted above the hills." The mountain of Hashem will be elevated above all the hills around it and higher than everything - not only in its spiritual grandeur, but in physical reality as well, rising up to stand physically taller than all else.
וְיָשְׁבוּ בָהּ וְחֵרֶם לֹא יִהְיֶה־עוֹד וְיָשְׁבָה יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לָבֶטַח׃ - And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more destruction, and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety.
"And people shall dwell in it" - they will merit to dwell in Jerusalem forever. "And there shall be no more destruction" - there will never again be a situation like in the First and Second Temples, when Jerusalem was destroyed and the city was given over to ruin. Rather, she will abide securely, without wars: "and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety." From this point onward, the prophet describes what will befall the nations who embarked on this reckless adventure of coming to wage war against Jerusalem.
Chapter 14 of Zecharya completes the prophecy of Gog and Magog found in Yechezkel 38-39. For the third time, Gog will ascend to Jerusalem itself; the children of Edom will come to seize it from the hands of the Ishmaelites; the city will be captured and half the people will go into exile - yet the remainder of the people will not be cut off, for Hashem will then go forth and fight against those nations at close range, miraculously, just as He fought at the Yam Suf. The Mount of Olives will split, a vast valley will be formed, and the Jerusalem of the future will be built at a distance of 45 mil from the site of the Beis HaMikdash - thus reconciling Yechezkel's prophecy with the promise that Jerusalem will remain in its place. On that day there will no longer be mere physical light, neither the brilliance of the sun nor the cold dimness of the moon, but only the light of Hashem: a unique day that knows no sunset and no decline for the Jewish people. Living waters will flow forth from Jerusalem toward both seas, alluding to the expansion of the knowledge of God throughout the world, and through this Hashem will become King over all the earth - Hashem is one and His Name is one, in a single dispensation of lovingkindness and mercy. Jerusalem will be elevated and expand, dwelling securely forever, free of ruin and free of destruction.